May 2011

May 31, 2011

Visiting a new place? Ride a bus to the end of the line and soak up the sights while coming and going. Get off the bus if you see something or some place that strikes you. Maybe get back on and go to the end of the line after that. Or maybe not.

May 13, 2011

For two weeks before Sawau tribesmen from the island of Beqa in Fiji perform a firewalking ceremony, they have no contact with women and don't eat coconut. If they mess with "the rules" their feet are liable to get badly burned during the ceremony.

While in Fiji, I watched fire walking, not on Beqa, but the tourist version at the Outrigger on the Lagoon, Fiji on the island of Viti Levu. Now you can watch it too. (Funny thing, when the video begins, someone nexts to me coughs and it seems as though it's from the smoke you see.)

The population of Fiji is half Indo-Fijian, the descendants of Asian Indians brought to Fiji in the 19th century to work in the sugar cane fields. One guide told us that Indians have a fire walking tradition too, but theirs is religious, whereas the Fijian version is purely ceremonial.

Either way, don't try this at home. And certainly not if you've eaten coconut in the past two weeks.

If you're a solo traveler at the Outrigger, or just wind up there to watch, you'll feel comfortable as part of a crowd, as you sit on steps that overlook the lawn where the ceremony is performed.

There's a nice vibe and be sure to stick around to watch the performers pose for pictures with kids. It's a hoot as they pick some of them up and hold them upside down or sideways and make scary faces or gestures.